Eastern Shore Windsurfing

Monday, August 3, 2009

Well a month in Hawaii flew by. I had an absolute blast and really feel that I improved my sailing. However, the bigger supprise is in my prone surfing. I had been doing standup paddle surfing fairly consistantly for the past year, but in Maui I only had regular surfboards. After about 15 surf sessions in Maui I am consistantly catching waves on a 7'6" and looking to go smaller :)

As for the windsurfing the last 3 days I spent in Maui provided strong winds and a North Swell. The best day provided waves that were well over head high. Epic for NJ but just a good summer day out there.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Well in the past five days I got in 2 sessions at kanaha beach park. I sailed there because hookipa was super flat and at Kanaha I was able to sail upwind to the break at uppers. Day 1 at Kanaha was pretty tame 5.3 with a 75 l board. Back home that would be an awsome day, its funny how our opinion of conditions changes. However the second day at Kanaha was crazy I was powered to overpowered on 4.2.

I sailed both days at Hookipa on 4.7 and there was a little wave to play with.

The first day I was on an 81 L goya custom wave board. That board rocks and I would love to have one for the windy days back home. On the second day I was on a 72 L rrd wave board and was way overpowered by 2:30 and should have rigged 4.2.

The one day I didn't sail the wind was in the mid teens and I headed over to a break in Lahaina called thousand peaks. The wave was about shoulder high and perfect for longboarding. After about 3 hrs of surfing I checked out Blackrock and joined the rest of the tourists.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Well its been 14 days now that I've been in Maui. I have sailed 7 days at hookipa, 1 and sprecks, and 1 at kanaha. I missed a few days when my friend came and we spent some time being toursists. We were able to snorkel the west and south sides of Maui, hike twin falls, take a zipline tour on Haleakala, and spend a day in Oahu visiting Pearl harbor and diamond head.

It really makes you think when you learn that there are over 900 sailors still entombed in the Arizona.

At hookipa its been incredable to see the level of sailing. These guys here are amazing. Seeing them sail has inspired me to go for bigger air, try forward loops, and it has really improved my wave riding. Apparently its rare for hookipa to see much of a wave in the summer, but we have been seeing alot of waist to chest high surf.

> You see a few more people out in the waves then you do on the jersey shore :)

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Well school ended june 16th and i've been traveling ever since. However, I reached my highlight destination of the summer Maui!!!!! I had never been to maui and decided back in march that I was going to spend the month of July on the north shore.

Here is a brief breakdown of the trip so far.

June 26th flew from Philly to San Diego

hung out in san diego with my cousine for a few days did some hiking and surfing at mission beach.

June 29th flew from San Diego to Maui

got into Maui around 2:30 pm and met Giampaolo who's studio I am renting and drove 1 mile down the road to hookipa.

This was probably one of the most incredible views I have seen. The exciting part is I will probably stop by that bluff atleast once a day for the next 30 days.

Anway there wasn't any sailable wind Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday so I surfed each day and toured the island. (the biggest sail I have here is 5.3 so i need close to 20 to plane.)

Finally today (Thursday) the wind came up and I was able to get around 3 hours of sailing at sprecks. I was mainly bump and jump but there were a few swells to do some turns on.

It looks like the trades are going to kick in starting tomorrow so hopefully there will be alot of sailing in the near future.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Flew the kite on the beach the other day. Would have been a nice day to sail but the wind was topping out around 15 and I wasn't motivated to get wet for marginal conditions. However, clear blue skies, moderate temperatures 43 degrees, and standing on the beach made me apprecitate my move. Back in Indiana, PA my parents are looking out their windows to 4 inches of snow.Tomorrow we are getting some south wind and rain. Could be a chance to get out one last time before the drive to western PA.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Its been pretty cold lately and with wrestling practice 6 days a week I haven't been in the water lately. I did pick up a rush HQ 2.5 meter trainer kite and have been flying that in my limited free time. Its pretty incedible how much power that a little kite can generate. Last weekend I was flying it in 20 mph winds with gusts to the high twenties. On several occasions it had enough power to pick me mabey 3 or 4 feet off the ground. I'll pick up a big kite in the spring for the days where the wind is 10-16. There are several guys in the NJ area that kite and windsurf depeding upon the conditions. Its always fun to learn something new. Lets hope for some warm south winds this winter so I can get back on the water.

Monday, November 10, 2008

It was NJ teachers conference weekend so when I got home from school wednesday night, took a nap, woke up around 11:30 pm, packed the truck, and hit the road for hatteras. I did associate with several other teachers doing the same thing so we did have some "staff development."

The ride was pretty smooth untill i hit the bay bridge tunnel and innitially wasn't allowed to cross beacuse of high winds. After a half and hour of waiting I was allowed to cross and it was empty roads till I rolled into Nags Head. It looked windy up north but I kept driving towards the blue skies that were above the hole. Unfortunately the wind was pretty marginal at the hole but I was able to get an hour or so on the water.

However, at the hole I was able to meet the members of WOW (windsurfers of washington). I wasn't really sure where I was going to stay and these guys had an extra bed. In addition to that every night someone cooks dinner.